Local softball teams will look to punch their ticket to the next round of the high school playoffs tonight when they play in regional quarterfinals. Among that group is the Highland Huskies, who take on Calamus-Wheatland in a Class 1A Region 8 quarterfinal.

Highland is 18-8 and has won 14 of their last 18 games, including cruising past Keota 13-1 in the first round of the postseason Monday. The Huskies have leaned on a dynamic lineup that has seven different players with batting averages of .300 or higher.

Sarah Burton has scored a team-high 46 runs in the lead-off spot for Highland while also batting .457, and the senior also had nine doubles, two triples and four home runs.

Senior Peyton Brun has a team-best .478 average with nine doubles, two homers and a team-high 29 runs batted in, while junior Lilly Barre has also been dynamic for the Huskies, hitting .369 with eight doubles, three triples, two homers and 31 runs scored.

In addition to great hitting, Highland has gotten stellar pitching from senior Grace Prybil, who has a 14-3 record, a 1.24 earned-run average and 97 strikeouts in 96 innings of work. The Huskies will be visiting a Calamus-Wheatland team that is 21-15.

The Winfield-Mount Union Wolves are preparing to take on Holy Trinity Catholic in the 1A Region 6 quarterfinals. WMU is coming off a thrilling 9-8 comeback win over Pekin in the first round Monday that raised their record to 6-19.

Senior Makiah Lower leads the Wolves with a .453 average, four doubles and 17 RBI, while sophomore Quin Smith has also been a force to be reckoned with at the plate, batting .382 with four triples, three home runs, 20 runs scored and another 16 driven in.

Winfeld-Mount Union takes on a Holy Trinity Catholic squad that is 7-11 and that they have already beaten once this season by a final score of 7-3 back on June 5th.

The Columbus Wildcats face arguably the toughest test of all as they travel to meet Louisa-Muscatine in Class 2A Region 8. Columbus needed extra innings in the first round Monday, but they were able to knock off West Branch 8-4 to improve to 8-21.

Lily Coil returned to both the lineup and the pitcher’s circle for the Wildcats on Monday, both spots where she has been spectacular in the past. The junior has a spectacular .640 average with 10 doubles, four triples, 21 RBI and 15 runs scored with the bat, and Coil has also collected a 2.51 ERA and 51 strikeouts in just under 49 innings pitched.

Columbus meets a Louisa-Muscatine side that is 29-4 and ranked 10th in the state in Class 2A. All quarterfinal games played this evening begin with first pitch at 7 o’clock.